William Pierson has been an Associate Professor of design at Shenandoah Conservatory for the past twenty-nine years. After forty-five years of teaching he has recently retired. In addition to his work with the university theatre program summer 2023 will mark his thirtieth season as a resident designer for Shenandoah Summer Music Theatre. In addition to SSMT Bill has worked for a number of professional theatres including Olney Theatre in Olney Maryland, Short North Stage in Columbus Ohio, Maryland Arts Festival in Towson Maryland, the Illinois Shakespeare Festival in Normal Illinois, and the Lexington Children’s Theatre in Lexington Kentucky. He is an award-winning designer with over 300 designs to his credit. He was a recipient of the Cleveland Critics Circle Award for outstanding set design for Passion of Dracula and a CCCA nominee for One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. In addition, he received the American College Theatre Festival Award for his set designs of White Rose of Munich and Translations. He was also the recipient of the Columbus Ohio Theatre Roundtable Award for Excellence in Scenic Design for Hand to God. Most recently he was awarded the 2021 Broadway World Central Virginia Award for Outstanding Set Design for Grease! He received his MFA in design from Illinois State University and his BA from Eastern Illinois University. He would like to thank the numerous artists he has had the pleasure of working with for the past thirty seasons at SSMT and extend a special thank you to the current administrative team of Jeremy Blaustein and Elizabeth Albert. Please support the SSMT and the arts.